Monday, May 04, 2009

-- Overall, it was one of the best events in the seven-year history at Quail Hollow. Maybe 2007 when Tiger and Michael Jordan played in the pro-am and Tiger won the event gets slightly higher marks but not by much.

From the way the golf course played to the quality of the field to the ease of operation, it was exceptional. For all the pre-tournament angst about the title sponsor issue, it was a non-factor during the week.

The tournament reinforced its place among the elite events in golf. That's not just me saying it. From players to agents to visiting media, the same thing is being said.

-- We're just now seeing how good Sean O'Hair can be. So much of what we've known about him is from his backstory with his father but O'Hair is superb talent. He's long, plays smart and can handle tough greens.

He was nearly flawless tee to green, proving that putting doesn't always win tournaments. In what may be a first, O'Hair did not make a putt longer than 10 feet in the tournament. As it turned out, he didn't have to.

-- David Feherty proved again Sunday why he's brilliant. He was able to kid with Tiger -- calling him a loser -- and get away with it.

Woods had to be running a little hot after his round but Feherty disarmed him with his humor. Woods was great with the media afterward on Sunday, taking plenty of time to talk about his game and what did and didn't work last week.

He's still too streaky, he said, and it showed. He played great shooting 65 on Thursday but closed with 10 pars on Sunday when he needed something more to win.

Maybe next year.

-- For all the talk about the tournament possibly ending in 2014, it's worth remembering that's just when the current contract runs out. There's only one PGA Tour event with a contract that goes past 2014 so it's not as if Quail Hollow is any different than other events.

It's conceivable that Quail Hollow could continue to host a PGA Tour event and a major championship in the future. They are not mutually exclusive. Nothing has been decided and it's not likely to be determined any time soon.

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comments:

To JH and the QH members- please don't let this tournament go away in 2014. This brings $40-60M annually to Charlotte. I don't see the trade off for one PGA Championship or a Ryder Cup. This is one of the best stops on the tournament. We've gone every year and it is a blast! It just goes to show you how hard it is to keep a tournament at one location for such a long time like the GGO has done in Gboro.

My only complaint - and it's a minor one - is that on Saturday and Sunday, they made the restroom trailer off of 16 green for spectator stand patrons only. There was no crowd when I was there, but I was still denied entrance. Bah.